Plant Gardens 101

Since gaining notoriety as an overnight Harrods success, the beehive compost bin has grown in popularity in the United Kingdom. Now, gardening suppliers in the United States are starting to offer beehive compost bins too. But, what are they?

The thinking behind these garden composters is that while garden composting is a worthy pass-time, it is often not very aesthetically pleasing to look at. That is one of the main reason not more gardeners make their own compost. They just have no desire to site a huge plastic eyesore in the garden. For those with huge gardens any type of garden compost bin is easy to hide, either by siting it behind an existing structure, or with imaginative planting.

For those with less space to play with, the ugliness of most commercial and home-made garden compost bins has made finding something suitable really difficult. The beehive compost bins play into our love of an imagined ideal of rural English life. All, church spires, cricket lawns and beehives. There is something just really comforting about the traditional beehive shape. (more…)

If you do not have the room to start garden composting, but want all the green kudos from making your own compost have you heard of a kitchen composter? If you would like to know how you could possibly recycle kitchen scraps into compost without your kitchen smelling like the municipal dump, read on.

A kitchen composter ‘does exactly what it says on the tin’ so to speak. With it, you recycle all your kitchen scraps and organic household waste into lovely friable hummus. Because it works through fermentation rather than aerobic decomposition, you can actually site your compost bin indoors.

I admit, I was very sceptical at first. But, it really does make sense. If you seal air out from organic waste, rather than rot, it will ferment. If you introduce helpful yeasts and bacteria into the mix it will start fermenting even quicker. (more…)

If you would like to be a little ‘greener’ with your annihilation of insect pests in your garden, try an insecticide soap. You can follow a homemade insecticide recipe or buy a commercial preparation. But, beware, though soap insecticide is relatively safe it should still be used with care.

With a growth in gardening as a popular pass-time, alongside a growing desire to be a little more environmentally friendly, their has been a boom in safe, Eco friendly and organic garden insecticide products. Insecticide soap is a particularly popular choice as it so non-polluting and non-toxic to people and pets. The nostalgia value of knowing our ancestors have used soap insecticides for generations probably helps. It is a really simple garden insecticide to make yourself too, which definitely appeals to the growing frugal nerve in us all too. (more…)

Rather than have a cupboard full of dangerous, toxic and expensive chemical insecticides why not make your own? These recipes are quick easy and much safer than the commercial alternatives. Do your bit for your wallet and the environment by making your own.

Basic Soap DeBug Spray
Mix one part soft or liquid soap with 100 parts water. Put into a plant sprayer and use liberally. This is the key ingredient in the gardener’s fight against aphids and other insect pests. The spray action will dislodge insects while the soap smothers them preventing them from breathing or eating. The soapy residue left on plants will further discourage other pests from moving onto the plant. Even slugs and snails will avoid eating soapy vegetation.

If your garden is suffering from a severe infestation you may wish to ‘up the ante’ by really putting off those leaf destroyers with a Garlic or Chilli DeBug Spray.

It is quite possible to make your own soft soap too. This is much cheaper than buying liquid soap and you can more easily control how natural the end product is. Simply grate a bar of Castille soap (or some other vegetable based soap) into warm water (four litres should be about right for a 150g bar). Simmer this, stirring for about ten minutes and decant. The soft soap can be used around the home in the laundry or for washing the dishes (adding some lemon juice to cut through grease). In fact making your own soft soap means you need never buy liquid soap again. Simply refill your old liquid soap dispensers with your homemade soft soap. (more…)

Growing your own horseradish is a simple business. Best of all, once you grow a bit you’ll have it, for free, forever. Now that’s what I call sustainable gardening! Horseradish is simple to prepare, preserve and make sauces with, so if you enjoy horseradish with beef or lamb, or just in your mashed potatoes why not grow your own. You don’t even need a garden, just enough space for a pot and you can grow your own supply. What are you waiting for?

How to Grow Horseradish

· In mid winter to early spring buy a little fresh horseradish root from your local grocer.
· Plant two inch sections of horseradish any way up you like but flat is best, in a tall pot filled with well rotted compost. Plant in the ground if you’ve lots of room but prepare for it to spread about your plot. A section of drainage pipe is the best thing to plant in, as it will encourage long straight roots and prevent the plant taking over your garden! (more…)

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Organic is now a word with so many ‘green’ and ‘Environmentally Friendly’ connotations. More people are growing their own food and creating their own garden compost. But It is often confusing as to what organic composting actually is and how we should be making it.

First of all, lets start with the basics. Garden composting is merely encouraging what nature is all to happy to do anyway. That is, decomposing any organic matter into its basic constituents. Hummus and minerals easily utilised by living plants. (more…)

safe insecticides such as insecticidal soap and insecticide neem visit the links.”>If you have a fruit tree or two, or indeed a whole orchard you will know how devastating over-wintering insects can be. So why not make your own Fruit Tree Spray?

Of course, you could just buy a Fruit Tree Spray. There are many to choose from, and a fair number of them are even environmentally sound too. But, sometimes a little home-made creativity is just what the doctor ordered, and if you are stuck inside you can still be doing something positive for the garden. (more…)

Choosing a garden compost bin keeps getting more difficult as more new designs and methods of composting are created. One of the best backyard compost tumblers has to be the Envirocycle Composter.

The Envirocycle Composter is an extremely squat and sturdy form of revolving compost bin. Compost Tumblers are always quick to produce usable garden compost and this one is no exception. With a good mixture of wet and dry materials added, and regular spinning of the compost you can create compost in weeks rather than the months it takes in a conventional static bin. (more…)

Neem oil insecticide is a completely natural method of pest control in the garden. Find out how to use neem oil insecticide below:

Neem Oil Insecticides may be purchased already formulated. But, when you see how little Neem Oil is included in the formulation you may decide to make your own. After all pure oil extracted from the neem tree and fruit is readily available. You might pay around $40 for a quart but that amount will literally last years, as only a tiny amount is needed to make a gallon of organic insecticide. (more…)

Rain water collection is often overlooked when the supply of mains water is so reliable. But there are many benefits to using rain water barrels.

Rain water barrels help the environment in a number of ways. Firstly they reduce the volume of processed water used for irrigation. We tend to think of mains water as a cheap and plentiful resource. But even without the threat of drought water treatment is expensive. The energy needed to filter, chlorinate and pump water to your home all has an impact on the environment. Add to that diminishing resources of freshwater as natural drainage routes are blocked by land coverage and you can see it makes sense to utilise truly free rainwater whenever possible.

Collecting rainwater provides a free way of irrigating the garden. Although most plants cope well with treated water they do better if given water free of mineral and chemical deposits. Using rain water is the purest way to irrigate your crops and ornamental garden. (more…)

Most gardeners understand that recycling garden waste and kitchen scraps is a great idea. But lots of people worry about how long the whole process will take. The length of time it takes to make garden compost really depends on what kind of garden composter one uses.

Compost can easily be made in a just in a heap out in the open. This is the traditional compost heap used by farmers since time immemorial. A huge pile of organic waste and animal manures layered together and heaped up high then left for months or even years to break down. If you have the space an open compost heap like this built in about a five foot cube will take six months to a year to decompose fully into usable, hummus rich garden compost. (more…)

Rainwater barrels are hugely beneficial for any gardener. But installing them correctly is important as once full they can be extremely difficult to adjust. Here’s how to set up your rainwater barrel correctly.

First of all make sure you have somewhere completely flat to place your rainwater barrel. If the ground is even slightly uneven it can make for an unsteady and therefore unsafe water butt.

Ensure the tap is near the bottom of the container so you get maximum water pressure, and that is is facing the direction where it will be of most use to you. There must be enough room below the level of the tap or spigot to allow your watering can or a bucket to sit underneath comfortably. If the tap is too low you will need to raise the height of the barrel by placing on a concrete pad or blocks, again making sure it is completely level. (more…)

Manure tea is simply water in which manure has been steeped. By soaking the manure in water for a few weeks much of the goodness in the manure is leached into the water. The resulting liquid is a highly potent fertiliser.

Manure tea or manure water can be made from any farmyard manure. Poultry, pig, horse or cattle manure is all exceptionally nutritious stuff. All the trace elements as well as the ‘biggies’ such as potash, nitrogen and phosphorous, which plants need are contained in animal dung. All types of animal dung are different and will contain different proportions of nutrients. But all animal dung is good! Even zoo-poo will do! Just use whatever is available in your locality. (more…)

Pretty, practical, homemade or shop bought. Beehive, tumbler or basic plastic compost bin? Choosing what kind of garden composter to use can be a minefield. The size of the bin is very important when garden composting.

First of all, do not stress too much about what kind of garden composter to use. Remember that nature wants all your garden waste to break down into lovely garden compost, and she’ll do her utmost to help no matter what kind of compost bin you use. (more…)

Pickled onions are a family favorite. They turn up at parties and picnics, with cheese and cold meats. They are a ‘how to make recipe’ every cook should know.

Pickling onions is a really easy way to learn about how to make pickles and how to make each pickle your own. The basics are really simple, but the possibilities for variation are endless. You can use small onions, large chopped onions and shallots. Red or white it doesn’t matter.

You can work traditionally using malt vinegar with its dark caramel tones, or ring the changes with wine or cider vinegars. You could even add a dash of balsamic at the end to bring in a touch of the Mediterranean. (more…)

Gardeners who recycle garden waste and kitchen scraps enjoy good quality free compost. But, sometimes it can seem to take a while for that garden compost to be created. Maybe then its time for the addition of a compost accelerator.

Whether or not you need to add a compost accelerator to your compost bins really depends on what else is going into making your compost. You may automatically be composting waste which is in itself a great compost activator. If you do, you probably already find your compost bins create fantastic, rich compost for you in no time. If not, maybe you keep waiting and waiting for that lovely hummus smelling of damp woodland to materialise, to no avail.    (more…)

Why Rotate Vegetable Crops?

· To prevent a build up of pests and diseases in your soil.
· To prevent a continual loss of particular nutrients in your soil.
· To allow for liming and manuring the soil. Some crops are happy to be planted immediately after these actions while others prefer to be planted two or more years afterwards.
· To allow for the growing of green manure crops which you will dig directly back into the soil.
· To allow ‘fallow’ times when animals can be put on the land.
· To reduce the need for artificial fertilizers and pest controllers.

How to Rotate Crops

There are literally as many crop rotation systems as there are gardeners. Everyone does things slightly different. If you do nothing else just do this:    (more…)

Do not be put off the benefits of compost as a way of garden recycling. You only need a few basic rules to create crumbly, rich hummus at home.

One of the most obvious ways of garden recycling is to compost all your garden waste. Or at the very least, compost al the waste which is simple to compost! While you’re at it you could also recycle all (or very nearly all) your kitchen waste too.

But for those new ‘Garden Composters’ who have not composted before can get bogged down in all the technicalities of how to make a compost pile. Do you need a commercial compost bin or is a homemade item as good?

Making compost at home really is a straightforward affair. You just need a little space and the time to set up your garden composting system. Once you’ve got it, its yours forever, so set aside one weekend and make yourself a compost pile to be proud of! (more…)

With the economic climate and a move towards people creating things for themselves more and more, there is a growing interest in making your own garden products: pesticides, fertilizers and equipment. One of the simplest ways to start with this ‘make it yourself’ mentality is by creating some simple garden pesticides at home.

There are many recipes for homemade garden pesticides. Most will work out much cheaper than buying an equivalent product and many will be more effective. A lot of them will increase your green credentials as you can recycle waste products at home, turning them into useful garden products. Many of the homemade recipes will allow for safer pet-friendly gardening too.

For this recipe though we’re taking a tougher approach. Sometimes (not often) insect infestations can be so bad that truly environmentally products like soap spray just will not eradicate the problem. At times like that its time to call on homemade nicotine spray.  (more…)